The Hostage Feeling

Metaphorical Narrative

You’re in a dim warehouse, tied to a chair under a single buzzing light.
The captor doesn’t need chains — it just whispers, “Feel bad. You can’t leave unless you do what I say.”

The more you resist, the heavier the shame, dread, or guilt presses on your chest. It’s not the activity it cares about — it wants you hostage to the bad feeling itself.

But the moment you see the trick, something shifts. You realize the captor has no weapon. The ropes are loose. You stand up.
The “bad feeling” was never a real cage — only a ransom demand.

Core Insight

Counterfeit urges show their true face when they sell relief as the only way out.
“Feel bad until you comply.” That’s not guidance — that’s emotional blackmail.

The answer isn’t to fix or argue with ego. The answer is to hand the wheel back to your executive functions — the part of you that can calmly choose:
“I own reality. I decide what matters, what I do, what I ignore.”

When executive function is in charge, the hostage game collapses. There’s nothing left to negotiate.

Saturday Experiment

1. Next time a “hostage feeling” shows up, name it: “This is ransom, not reality.”
2. Place a hand on your chest and say: “Peace is not for sale.”
3. Deliberately pick one small action that you choose (make tea, stretch, write a line). Not to fix the ego — but to prove executive function is steering.

Sunday Reflection

• In the third person, describe how they look standing up from the chair, ropes falling away.
• What does it feel like when they run life from executive choice instead of emotional ransom?
• How does their world change when peace is theirs by default, not a prize to earn?